The Replacements

Game 30 - Mets

Diamondbacks 3, Mets 1
Record: 19-11

"All this talk about it will undoubtedly give the Diamondbacks a much-needed win this afternoon . . ."

Well, not nearly so much as this will:

J Reyes SS
E Chavez CF
D Wright 3B
C Delgado 1B
S Green RF
R Castro C
D Newhan LF
R Gotay 2B
M Pelfrey P

Predictably, one run on six hits, eight men LOB. Arizona squealed "uncle" late last night, and Willie's lineup card reflected his kinder, gentler side.

In truth, with Valentin shelved for a while, Alou ailing, LoDuca doing the day-after-night thing, and Carlos Beltran simply resting, this was bound to happen. And now that we see that David "No Newhan is Good" Newhan isn't much better in a starting role than he was coming off the bench, we can start to think beyond his stay with the Mets. Still, I just kind of wish the Mets had let me know before I pissed away three hours on their hangover while nursing my own.

Mike Pelfrey fell to 0-4 as his ERA swelled to 6.39. Those unsightly numbers belie an otherwise . . . eh, "not that horrible" is about the best I can say about his work thus far. He's shown just a few flashes amid a rather unimpressive first five starts, and his spot in the rotation is surely being re-evaluated at this juncture. He should be good after a while, but for now he's still too raw in the middle -- throw him back on and let's have another beer.

Off to San Francisco for a close look at the man we all thought would be fronting the Mets' staff about now, Barry Zito. The pitching match-ups look strong to quite strong for the series, with SF's Zito/Cain/Morris a favored trio over Ollie, TG, & Johnny Maine. Gonna need those bats to wake back up tomorrow. Oh, and there's some other Barry making news out there. I try to be more high-minded, but throw me into the group of douchebottles looking to see HGH meet HBP every night. Can't help it.

After the three-gamer by the Bay, the Metmen come on home for a 10-day homestand that culminates in a weekend interleaguer against the crosstown pinstripers. With a few wins under the Yanks' belt recently and their new signing arriving to just a modicum of fanfare, there should be plenty of bloated coverage 10 days from now. Just preparing you for the onslaught.